


A deserted laundromat at 1am... what could go wrong?

by First_page



Series: Whump & Webs [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Exhaustion, Forced Mutism, Hero Peter, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Ransom, Scared MJ, Sleep Deprivation, What's A Whumpee Gotta Do to Get Some Sleep Around Here, Whump, Whumptober 2020, Whumptober prompt 23 &24, scared is hurt comfort right?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27400234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/First_page/pseuds/First_page
Summary: Peter walks to the end of the alley and sees a laundromat. The neon sign says 24 hours and Peter squints at the tempting alternative. He certainly can’t bring the smelly suit back to Aunt May’s, but washing a superhero suit in a public washing machine isn’t exactly the best way to keep a secret identity secret.Peter yawns as he weighs the decision. He’s been studying for the PSATs for the past week and he hasn’t had more than 4 hours of sleep a night and it’s making his logic a little cloudy.Cloudy is all it takes to send him walking into the laundromat.Whumptober prompt 23 and 24: sleep deprivation, exhaustion, what's a whumpee gotta do to get some sleep around here, forced mutism
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker
Series: Whump & Webs [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979068
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	A deserted laundromat at 1am... what could go wrong?

**Author's Note:**

> This story and the next one are focused on Peter's more everyday life before we start going full whump into the last few chapters :) I hope you enjoy. Thanks!

Peter looks from left to right down the deserted alley. The last thing he wants is an audience when he slips off his Spider-man suit. And speaking of the suit, it’s beyond disgusting. An hour ago, Peter was cramming for an exam at midnight, flashforward an hour and he’s stuffing a suit into his backpack at 1am. A suit that smells like raw sewage.

Peter glances at the manhole that he just crawled out of and shivers. The memory of wading through waist deep sewer water is going to be with him for a long time.

Peter is thankful that the suit covers every inch of his body, so a shower isn’t necessary (but as soon as he gets home, he is taking five in a row).

As Peter puts on his spare pair of jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie from his backpack, he looks down at his soiled suit and sighs. “I can’t take this home. It smells like death.”

The backpack isn’t zipped up yet, so Karen speaks, unmuffled. “The laundry room in your apartment is still out of order.”

Peter groans as he zips up the backpack. “It’s one o’clock in the morning. I can’t call Mr. Stark. He’s probably asleep.”

Karen assures him that Tony is absolutely not asleep at 1am, but Peter had already zipped up the backpack, so her information isn’t heard.

Peter walks to the end of the alley and sees a laundromat. The neon sign says 24 hours and Peter squints at the tempting alternative. He certainly can’t bring the smelly suit back to Aunt May’s, but washing a superhero suit in a public washing machine isn’t exactly the best way to keep a secret identity secret.

Peter yawns as he weighs the decision. He’s been studying for the PSATs for the past week and he hasn’t had more than 4 hours of sleep a night and it’s making his logic a little cloudy.

Cloudy is all it takes to send him walking into the laundromat.

He squints from the blinding florescent lights. His super eyesight isn’t happy with the immediate change from the dark outdoors to the blinding brightness of the laundromat.

Peter shields his eyes as he staggers through the empty building. He takes a washing machine that’s all the way in the back and stuffs in his suit and his backpack. He goes to the vending machine and puts in a five dollar bill. He chooses a detergent pod and a pouch of fabric softener. The change comes out as quarters and he takes the coins over to the washing machine.

He adds the purchased cleaning supplies and starts to feed the coins into the machine. He feeds the last coin into the slot when he hears his name. “Peter?”

Peter freezes. “MJ?”

“Peter, why are you loading a Spider-man suit into the washing machine?”

Peter’s mind goes in a million different directions. He could say that it isn’t a Spider-man suit, but she clearly saw it so that’s probably not going to fly.

He could say that he likes to cosplay Spider-man on his free time, but he’s not sure if that will win him any points with the girl that he has a crush on. He hasn’t talked to her all that much due to the crush, but he knows that she likes Star Wars almost as much as him and Ned, so there’s a good chance she won’t make fun of him. To be honest, the last time he talked to MJ it was after he ate sixteen tacos at school and needed to go to the nurse. Peter shivers at that memory.

His sleep deprived brain choses choice C. “Um, because it’s dirty?”

MJ smiles. “I know you’re Tony Stark’s intern, but I didn’t think he had you do superhero laundry.”

Peter goes along with her wrong assumption, and laughs nervously. “Uh, yeah. I get their superhero coffee too.”

MJ laughs and it makes Peter’s heart stutter. He forgets that his hand is hovering over the start button, so when he leans forward, the machine unexpectedly whirrs to life. The vibration travels through Peter’s hypersensitive nervous system and he almost jumps out of his skin from the sensation.

MJ laughs a bit more. “You might want to lay off the coffee yourself, Jitters.”

Peter blushes. “Um, so like, why are you here? Isn’t it kind of late?”

MJ holds up a book. “No one’s ever here except me and the guy that owns the place, so it’s a good place to read. They have the lights turned up to full surface of the sun setting, so it feels safe. But if it’s your first time here, I have to warn you. The owner gets really mad if you try to wash bloody clothes. A guy came in a couple of days ago with a shirt covered in blood, he probably murdered someone, so the owner kicked him out. I’m not sure what made the dude think he could get away with bringing a crime scene in here.”

Peter nods. “Right. Blood. Because I’m washing superhero clothes.”

MJ frowns. “Pete, are you ok?”

Peter blinks. “Yeah, I’m ok. I’m just tired. I haven’t slept in forever.”

MJ shrugs. “If you want to take a nap, I can watch your stuff and stick it in the drier when it’s done.”

Peter shakes his head. “I’ll skip the nap. I’d rather talk to you.”

The talk is Peter’s first good decision of the night and he finds himself laughing with MJ as his suit and backpack spin their way clean. Peter continues the conversation as his washing load tumble dries. “Um, so I’m almost done, but I feel like we still have a lot more to talk about.”

MJ smiles. “You want to have a second laundromat date tomorrow?”

Peter takes a deep breath. “That’s cool, but maybe I can do better. Like a place with food and we could, like eat the food… I mean there’s a vending machine here with chips and stuff, but I’m talking about real food like that’s on a plate that someone brings to you, so, um yeah. Does that sound like something you’re interested in?”

MJ smiles. “That sounds like something I’m very interested in.”

Peter’s voice cracks. “So is tomorrow ok? Not like 1am tomorrow, but like, um, after school, like 6?”

MJ nods. “Six sounds great.”

Peter opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, the power goes out.

There’s a moment of pitch blackness before the emergency generator kicks in and the laundromat is filled with dim red emergency lighting.

MJ reaches for Peter’s hand. She bites her lip as Peter squeezes her hand. Peter goes into superhero mode to calm her nerves. “It’s ok. Some dude in the building next door probably did something dumb and blew a fuse for the whole block.”

The hair on Peter’s arm sticks up and he quickly looks behind him to see if there’s any danger. His head is turned, but he feels MJ squeeze his hand really tightly. When he turns back around, MJ is still squeezing his hand as a guy has his arm wrapped around her neck in a chokehold. The guy’s other hand is over her mouth.

The guy jerks Peter and MJ’s hands apart and drags her a few steps back, putting a little distance between the two.

Peter holds up his hands. “Dude. Take my wallet. If you want money, I’ve got money. I only have like 20 bucks, but you can have it. Just don’t hurt her.”

Peter glances over to the front desk and sees the owner lying unconscious on the floor.

The robber doesn’t have a gun in his hand and even if things go sideways, Peter has options. He has a spare web-shooter in his pocket so he can end this quickly if he needs to, but for now he has to try to get out of this without revealing his secret identity.

Peter slowly lowers one hand. “I’m going to take my wallet from my pocket. I’m going to move really slowly. Ok? I’ll slide it over to you.”

The criminal tightens his grip on MJ’s neck and growls at MJ. “I need a free hand to get the kid’s wallet so I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. If you scream, you’re going to be sorry.”

MJ nods as the tears slide down her face onto his hand.

The criminal removes his hand and MJ doesn’t make a sound.

Peter reaches into the pocket of his jeans and removes his wallet. He keeps his other arm raised as he squats down. He flicks his wrist and the wallet skids across the floor. The criminal stops it with his foot and bends down to pick it up.

He opens the wallet and true to Peter’s word, there’s a $20 bill inside. There’s also his employee ID card for Stark Enterprises. It says ALL ACCESSS CLEARANCE on it.

The opportunist’s face lights up. “Well, well, well. I think I’m getting more than 20 bucks tonight. I wonder how much money Tony Stark will pay for a high level employee.”

Peter groans to himself. _So much for my plan to not wake up Mr. Stark._

The criminal takes a gun from his pocket and points it at MJ’s head.

MJ screams and Peter yells. “No no no! Don’t shoot!”

This is escalating way too quickly, and Peter has to slow it down. He talks quickly. “Don’t hurt her. I’ll call Mr. Stark and I promise he will pay a ton of money for me, but you can’t hurt her. If either of us are hurt, you’re going to look unstable and Tony Stark won’t agree to any terms. If you want him to pay a random, I can totally make that happen. This isn’t my first ransom, this isn’t my first rodeo.”

The criminal raises an eyebrow. “Talk quicker kid.”

Peter nods. “Ok. I’m going to get my phone and I’ll call my boss. It’s in my pocket.”

Peter’s hand goes down again and his fingers hover on the outside of his left pocket. The web shooter is in there.

The criminal frowns. “No! Hands up kid. I’ll get the phone.” He clicks the safety off the gun. “I going to keep the gun on your girlfriend, and you can tie her up.” He kicks over a chair and throws a rope to Peter. “Then I’ll tie you up. And then _I’ll_ make the phone call.”

Peter doesn’t want to make any sudden movements, so he follows the plan. He knows that a flimsy rope isn’t enough to actually restrain him, but he has to play the criminal’s game until he can see an opening.

He does as told, and Peter and MJ have their arms tried behind them and are sitting, restrained, on chairs.

Peter directs the criminal to the pocket that has his phone, not the web-shooter, and tells the man how to find Tony’s number in his phone.

The criminal puts on a black ski-mask and dials and Tony. Tony answers after one ring. “What’s up kid?”

Peter takes a shaky breath. “Um, I kind of need to show you something. Can you switch to video mode?”

Tony’s voice is tight. “I’m assuming I’m on speakerphone and I’m assuming you can hear me. What did you do to Peter and how much money do you want?”

Tony’s face fills the screen of the phone and the criminal hits Peter with the bunt handle of the gun. “That was stupid kid. You try to give him a hidden message again and I’m going to make it really hurt.”

Peter plays along by pretending to be a helpless civilian. “Really hurt? Dude, _that_ really hurt.”

The criminal smirks and walks away with the phone, continuing the ransom without Peter’s help.

That’s Peter’s opening.

He’s not going to be able to fix this without MJ finding out who he is, but he has to take that risk if he wants to save her life.

He turns to MJ and whispers. “I can’t let this guy know who I am, so I have to get my suit right now.”

He easily breaks free from the tightly knotted rope and runs over to the drier. He sheds his clothes in record time and climbs into the warm Spider-man suit.

He backflips over to MJ and snaps her rope bracelets free. He guides her to hide behind a row of washing machines and Peter sits on one of the chairs. He leans back and crosses his legs casually. “Hey, jerk off, the first rule of kidnapping is, never turn your back to the prisoners.”

The criminal spins back around to face Peter and takes a shot.

Spider-man easily dodges out of the way. “The second rule? Don’t shoot at Spider-man. I’m faster than a speeding bullet and it just ticks me off.”

The criminal looks from left to right. “Where are the kids?”

Spider-man stands. “They’re safe, but you on the other hand. Not so much.”

Tony calls out from the phone. “Do I still need to be on the call Spidey? I think you have this covered.”

Spider-man launches a web, knocking the gun out of the criminal’s hand and sends another stream of webbing to pin the man against the wall. “I’ll be quick Mr. Stark. I don’t want you to miss the best part.”

Spider-man flings a web so that the phone is angled to give Tony a perfect view and Spider-man backflips over to the criminal.

Tony laughs. “No one likes a show-off Spidey.”

Spiderman laughs. “You should talk.” He narrows his eyes, causing the pupil-less eye holes to look demonic. The criminal’s eyes go wide before he passes out.

Spider-man sighs. “Well that was anti-climactic.”

He says a quick goodbye to Tony before ending the call.

MJ’s voice is soft. “I thought it was pretty climatic.”

Spider-man walks over to MJ and removes his mask. “So, um, I’m Spider-man.”

MJ nods. “Yeah, this is… so surreal. I thought that reading the limited edition early release of my detective book series was the most exciting thing that would ever happen here.”

Peter smiles. “So now that you know my secret, do you still want to go on that date tomorrow?”

MJ frowns. “You lied to me Peter. I’m assuming that Ned knew, but you didn’t tell me. You made me look like an idiot. How can I trust you? How can I ever trust you?!”

Peter stutters. “I- I’m sorry. I –.”

MJ holds up her hand and laughs. “I’m just kidding, dork. I’ll see you at 6.”

Peter laughs. “That was so not cool.”

MJ ruffles his hair. “It was too easy. But seriously, though, I want to thank you for saving my life. That was so badass. There’s so much I want to ask.”

Peter nods. “The criminal guy is going to hang around until the cops come for him, and an ambulance is coming for the owner, but we don’t have to stick around for that. Let me get changed back into regular clothes and I’ll walk you home.”

Peter, the quintessential gentleman walks MJ home and then trudges back to his place. The adrenaline has worn completely off, and his body is quickly reminded that he is exhausted.

He slips through the fire escape so May doesn’t catch him sneaking in. He launches himself face down onto the bed and closes his eyes preparing for sweet, sweet, dreamland. Instead, his alarm goes off and he looks at the phone that’s blaring as it vibrates on his bed.

He has ten minutes before he has to start getting ready for school. He groans as he slams on the snooze button.

What’s a superhero gotta do to get some sleep? 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading! I hope everyone is having an awesome day :)


End file.
